[Thanks to wolf vision]
The Commercial Appeal
PAIN TELLS HOW MUCH LIFE 3 SLAIN BOYS HAD
Date: May 9, 1993
Section: News
Page: A1
Illustration: photo (2)
Source: John Beifuss The Commercial Appeal
Edition: Final
One of the great tragedies in the short lives of Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore is that most people will know them only as victims. To friends and relatives, the 8-year-old classmates whose murdered bodies were found Thursday in a brush-choked bayou were something far nobler. They were children whose personalities and spirit will never die.
They had funny nicknames like ''Wormer'' and ''Bubba.'' They swam like fish and kicked like Ninja Turtles. They had smarts and heart and smiles and wiles.
They lived in the same northeastern neighborhood, near the interstate and swampy Robin Hood Park. They were in second grade together at Weaver Elementary School. They were in the same Cub Scout pack at Holy Cross Episcopal Church, where the Moores were members, and all had passed the rank of ''Wolf.''
And yet, as their loved ones know so well, each boy was unique.
Michael was a leader, respected by the others.
Christopher was always asking ''Why?''
Steve already was a heart-breaker, with ''snow white hair and blue eyes,'' according to second cousin Angela Graham, 33. ''It was blond, but it turned white in the summertime.'' She said it had just begun to lighten when the boys disappeared Wednesday.
The boys' paths couldn't help but cross frequently. Michael and Christopher lived across an intersection from each other, at 1398 and 1400 E. Barton, respectively. And Steven Edward Branch - ''Stevie,'' as he was called by family and friends - considered himself the boyfriend of Michael's 9-year-old sister, Dawn. He recently bought her a birthstone ring for $5 at Wal-Mart.
''He liked older women,'' joked Terry Hobbs, 35, who had been Steve's stepfather since the boy was a year old.
Steve's mother Pam Hobbs, 29, said her son had taught himself to do backflips and forward-flips. He liked to practice Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle- style karate moves, and he liked to sing.
''He was going to be my little Elvis someday,'' she said. ''I told him how Elvis bought his mama a Graceland, so he'd have to buy me a Promised Land.'' Stevie promised he would.
The family lived in a comfortable ranch house at 1601 S. McAuley, with log reindeer in the front yard and Steve's chow, King, in the back. Another pet - a turtle caught by Steve in one of the watery ditches that vein the neighborhood - has been adopted by a cousin.
''He loved animals. He was all the time keeping something he had caught,'' Terry Hobbs said. ''We had some fish, but his little sister got into the fishbowl, and now we no longer have fish.''
Four-year-old Amanda called her big brother ''Bubba.'' ''That's all she knows, that he's gone to heaven,'' Angela Graham said.
Steve's father, Steve Branch, lives in Osceola, Ark.
Andy Taylor, 34, a longtime friend of the Byers family who had been designated ''official spokesman'' by the distraught parents, said Christopher Byers was nicknamed Wormer, '' 'cause he was such a squirmer.''
Taylor said he had known Christopher ''ever since he was a curtain crawler. He was the kind of little kid who could climb in your lap and make you feel good right off the bat. He not only could do it, he would do it.''
''He was every inquisitive, and I think along with that comes creativity.''
He said Christopher was interested in motors and moving, mechanical parts.
''He always asked a thousand questions - 'Why do you drive that kind of car?' 'Why are you doing that?' ''
And Christopher liked to swim.
''During the summer, we couldn't keep him out of the pool,'' Taylor said. ''We think he was part fish.''
It's hard for the parents, like John Mark Byers and Melissa Byers, to keep from crying, Taylor said. Everywhere in the house is some toy, some drawing held in place by a refrigerator magnet, or some similar memento of their son.
''She might look and just see a book out of place and remember Christopher touched it,'' Taylor said.
It's particularly tough for Ryan Byers, 13, who shared a room with Chris.
''Right now, the only thing that's in our mind is Christopher - the Worm,'' Taylor said. ''Please, pray that our children are being taken care of, and that nothing like this could ever possibly happen to anybody again.''
A relative who did not identify himself said Todd and Diana Moore, the parents of Michael Moore, and other family members did not want to discuss Michael with a reporter.
Terry Hobbs said Michael was more of a natural leader, while Stevie could sometimes be shy. But the quietness was perhaps a sign of his relative maturity. Stevie was an honor student at Weaver and took the job of big brother seriously.
''He was more grown-up than his age would indicate,'' said second cousin, Ronnie Graham, 37, of Gosnell, Ark. He said Stevie and his mother were ''more like buddies,'' and Stevie emulated that relationship with his sister.
Mrs. Hobbs said she hoped people would remember her son's life, not his death.
''I just would like everybody to remember him like he was - remember his smile, his karate moves.''
Caption: By Steve Jones
(Color) Pam Hobbs, with husband, Terry, hopes people will remember the life of her son, Steve Branch, and not only his death.
By Michael McMullan
Jimmy Elmore was one of the many to donate money Saturday to help pay for funeral arrangements for the three slain West Memphis youngsters.
Keywords: FATAL
HOMICIDE
MULTIPLE
MURDER
CHILD
PROFILE
AR
Document Number: 00129150
